There has been a long standing recognition that in sports which involve scoring by propelling a playing piece into a goal tended by a goalkeeper, goal scoring practice can make a valuable contribution to a player's skill at the game. The problem associated with practicing with a goalkeeper is that a team of several players typically includes only one or two goalkeepers. Individual practice in goal scoring therefore puts an inordinately heavy demand on the goalkeeper. Attention has therefore been directed to developing apparatus and methods for permitting individuals to practice goal scoring without a goalkeeper by simulating goaltending with one means or another.
One such apparatus is taught in Canadian Patent Application Number 976,577 which issued on Oct. 21, 1975 to Frantti. This patent teaches a planar impact-resistant panel which is sized to fit the front of a regulation hockey goal. The panel includes seven rectangular slots positioned to imitate parts of the goal mouth not readily covered by a goalkeeper in a crouched position at the center of the goal. The front of the panel is decorated with a picture of a goalkeeper in the crouched position.
Canadian Patent Application Number 2,019,338 to Roy was published on Dec. 20, 1991. This application describes a thin, flexible impact-resistant panel which is attached to the front of a regulation hockey goal using elastic straps. The panel includes ten openings positioned to indicate areas of the goal mouth that cannot be covered by a goalkeeper in a crouched position.
The principal disadvantages of the inventions taught by Frantti and Roy are that they provide static target areas, make it difficult to retrieve a hockey puck after a successful scoring attempt and fail to provide the player with any indication of his progress in improving his skills. Furthermore, the devices are not capable of testing a player's reflexes and, in particular, the accuracy of a scoring attempt made while acting on reflex. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in a game situation, a potential target within a goal changes as the goalkeeper moves to one area of the goal, thereby exposing a new unprotected area of the goal. Thus a potential target may be available only for a short period of time.
Canadian Patent Numbers 1,204,460 and 1,204,496 issued to Daoust on May 13, 1986 and Jun. 24, 1986, respectively. Each patent discloses a hockey goal-shaped target area comprising upright posts and a horizontal bar sized to conform to the mouth of a regulation hockey goal. Attached to the posts and/or the bar are targets preferably positioned in the four corners of the rectangular opening of the goal mouth. An indicator lamp is associated with each target and the lamps are randomly activated by an electronic controller. The object of a practice session is to shoot a hockey puck at the target indicated by an indicator lamp. Striking a target while an indicator lamp is lit elicits an audible response to reward the player.
The apparatus taught by Daoust likewise has several disadvantages. First it provides a completely open target area shaped to simulate a hockey goal. A shot within the goal mouth, even though it misses a target, tends to unduly reinforce the practicing player. Furthermore, the practice session is substantially unstructured. The indicator lamps are lit in a random pattern and remain lit for an adjustable period of time. Once an indicator controller is turned on, it appears that it switches on the target indicator lamps in a random pattern until the controller is turned off, regardless of the position or success of the practicing player or the duration of the practice session. Another disadvantage of the Daoust apparatus is that the lamps which indicate a respective target are distanced from the target itself. Accordingly, if further targets are added to the apparatus, it could be difficult for a player to quickly determine which target is associated with a particular lamp. Finally, there is no provision for measuring a player's success or improvement in his scoring skills because there is no means for counting shots or accumulating statistics relating to the attempted versus successful shots at the target.